ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some alternatives to the deterrence and bloc systems that existed before the autumn of 1989—with reference to the notion of "non-offensive defense." The restructuring and build-down of military forces would improve mutual confidence and contribute to dismantling adversarial images, indeed, to dissipating the threat itself. The chapter aims to sketch of some "paths into the future" that are slowly becoming visible, with special emphasis on the German question. Any potential political damage ensuing from German unification might be minimized if German forces were to have an unmistakably defensive orientation, and to be made visibly incapable of the offensive. Apparent headway made in Franco-German security and defense cooperation appears promising at first glance. Europeans tend to believe in the possibility of mitigating the risks of war through pursuit of the "detente path," along which they have encountered many obstacles set up by US recalcitrance.
